August was a strong month for real estate residential sales in Shelby County, netting 1,709 home sales in August, which is up 15 percent from the 1,483 sales in August 2012. The data was compiled and shared by Chandler Reports, a real estate reporting firm. The number of home sales this August also grew from July’s numbers, which were 1,695 homes sold. Rising prices and interest rates have pushed fair-weather sellers to put their homes on the market, and prospective buyers are anxious to take advantage of still-competitive pricing and still-low mortgage rates.

Inventory is continually tightening up in the improving market, so individual sales are a welcome addition to the already competitive market. Owners who are above water have been considering selling homes to add to the tight market, and homeowners who are underwater are forced to hold on to their homes, keeping the low inventory market tightly under wraps. The highest increases in the county were in Collierville, where there were 106 sales, and a total sales volume $32.6 million. The highest average sales price was $3379,526, which was the average in Germantown East. The Collierville local movers have found that despite still being in the midst of a recovery, Memphis and surrounding areas in Shelby County are growing in the right direction, and 24 of the 33 zip codes in the county showed sales increases for August.